Midtjylland v Nottingham Forest: Line-ups, stats and preview
The lowdown on Midtjylland v Forest in the Europa League
Nottingham Forest head coach Vitor Pereira faces a familiar rotation quandary as his side attempt to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit in the Europa League three days before a trip to Tottenham that could prove defining in their attempt to stay in the Premier League.
Forest are above third-bottom West Ham on goal difference and a point behind Spurs after a 0-0 draw at home to Fulham on Saturday, with their league schedule offering a significant distraction from the chance to reach a European quarter-final by avenging their second home defeat of the campaign to Midtjylland.
“If I don’t rotate the team against Tottenham after three days with travel again, it would not be possible to compete,” the Portuguese told Sky Sports, adding that Forest will head to Denmark “with the spirit to fight for qualification”.
“In the first game against Midtjylland, in my mind, I tried to win the game in 60 minutes. If [we had lost] 2-0 or 3-0, it would be completely different and I would have had the chance to make subs and rotate some players. It would not be easy to recover the score.”
Pereira may be encouraged by Midtjylland’s nine-match unbeaten run in all competitions ending on Sunday with a 1-0 home defeat to Nordsjaelland in the Danish top flight, finishing the weekend five points behind AGF in second place.
“It’s not often that you play in three tournaments at this point in [the season],” said head coach Mike Tullberg (via Midtjylland’s website), also referencing his team’s Danish Cup final against Copenhagen on May 14.
“What I can say is that what we did in terms of intensity and second balls [against Nordsjaelland] is not good enough.
“We weren’t as good on second balls as we have been all season. I’m upset about that. Of course you can waste chances, but you have to fight for 90 minutes – and I don’t think we did.”
The winners of the tie will meet Stuttgart or Porto in the last eight in April. You can see the full Europa League bracket here.
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Midtjylland v Nottingham Forest team news
Left-back Paulinho (illness), midfielder Alamari Djabi, winger Mikel Gogorza (hamstring) and forwards Ola Brynhildsen and Franculino (both knee) are injured for Midtjylland.
Forest goalkeeper John Victor, defenders Willy Boly and Nicolo Savona and striker Chris Wood are all out with knee injuries.
Centre-back Jair Cunha has a foot issue and goalkeeper Stefan Ortega has a calf problem. Left-back Luca Netz is ineligible.
Midtjylland v Nottingham Forest predicted line-ups
Midtjylland starting XI: Elias Rafn Olafsson, Ousmane Diao, Martin Erlic, Mads Bech Sorensen, Dario Osorio, Philip Billing, Pedro Bravo, Denil Castillo, Victor Bak Jensen, Aral Simsir, Cho Gue Sung
Nottingham Forest starting XI: Matz Sels, Ola Aina, Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo, Neco Williams, Ibrahim Sangare, Elliot Anderson, Omari Hutchinson, Morgan Gibbs White, Callum Hudson Odoi, Igor Jesus
Where to watch Midtjylland v Forest: TV channel, live online streams
Kick-off on Thursday is at 17:45 GMT (12:45 ET / 09:45 PT). In the UK, live coverage is on TNT Sports 2. Streaming is on the Discovery Plus app.
TNT Sports costs £30.99 a month, including Eurosport and entertainment and available on a vast range of devices including smart TVs and gaming consoles. From March 26, TNT Sports streaming will switch from Discovery Plus to HBO Max.
Midtjylland v Nottingham Forest stats
- Midtjylland have won five of their 10 previous matches against English teams (L3 D2)
- The European last-16 debutants have won one and lost two of their three previous two-legged ties against English clubs
- Only one of their European matches this season has ended in defeat (W12 D2), including six straight home wins featuring five clean sheets
- Seven of their last 10 two-legged European ties have been successful, winning two of the three in which they have prevailed in the first leg away by a one‑goal margin
- Braga (6) are the only team to have kept more clean sheets than Midtjylland (5) in the 2025/26 Europa League
- Forest have won 17 of their 22 previous two-legged European ties
- Their record in their last eight European away matches is W3 D3 L2, but they are on a run of one win in 10 games in all competitions (D4 L5)
- Only Stuttgart (20) can better Forest and Midtjylland’s tallies of 19 goals each in this season’s Europa League
- This is Forest’s first European campaign since they competed in this competition in 1995/96, losing 7-2 on aggregate to Bayern Munich in the last eight
- In their only previous two‑legged European tie in which they lost the first leg at home by a one‑goal margin, Forest knocked out Berliner FC Dynamo in the 1979/80 European Cup quarter‑finals with a 3-1 victory in the away leg
Midtjylland v Nottingham Forest prediction
Midtjylland
Nottingham Forest
Those wins over Forest earlier in the campaign will give a defensively astute Midtjylland side belief they have the measure of their opponents, who are arguably under more pressure to produce a positive result on Sunday.
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